Aidan Lamothe of Manchester used his 5th birthday party to collect food for Capital-area food pantries

Aidan Lamothe, who turned 5 in October asked his friends to donate tuna fish and peanut butter at his birthday party to help the Capital Region Food Program. He collected four boxes of food and will present his donations in person to the agencies.
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A few weeks before Aidan Lamothe of Manchester turned 5 last month, his mom, Jill Teeters, told him that some kids don’t get to eat peanut butter or tuna fish – his favorite foods – because their parents can’t afford to buy them.

So when the family began planning Aidan’s birthday party, she asked if he wanted his guests to bring toys to donate to needy kids, as they have the past two years, or if they should bring peanut butter and tuna fish for families who need food.

And that’s how Aidan collected four boxes of food for the Capital Region Food Program.

“I wanted to help kids who don’t have food,” he said yesterday.

Teeters, the marketing director for the food program, said the birthday donations started as a way to show Aidan “not all kids are fortunate enough to have lots of stuff,” she said.

Aidan will go with the food program workers as they bring more than $10,000 worth of food to 18 different food pantries in the Capital region today.